Teens against suicide speak to Byesville Rotary

Pictured: Sheryl Weber, Suicide Prevention Coalition of Youth advisor; Rebekah Calkins, Kallysta Johnson, Jimmy Allen III, Kylie Sampson, Aaron Ruby, and Becky Brunner, Suicide Prevention Coalition of Youth advisor.

Reading for next meeting:

• January Rotarian, "Starting Fresh," p. 9.

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny committee is being formed. contack co-shairs Phyllis Jeffries or Jum Vaughan to join.

 

 

Sheryl Weber, Cambridge teacher and coach at Cambridge High explained to Byesville Rotarians that she became involved in teen suicide prevention because of her daughter who lost her fight with depression last year. As a result, she decided to do something to fight teen suicide.

One of the challenges to fighting suicide is that is often an invisible and unrecognized problem that few people like to talk about. Many people do not know that someone is lost to suicide every 15 minutes. The number of suicides in Guernsey County is high and makes the county one of the top twenty in the state.

 Because teens are more likely to talk to other teens than to adults, Weber decided to enlist the help of the students at her school. She began with a group of 3 students from Cambridge High School and established the Suicide Prevention Coalition for Youth. Today, there are 10 teens at Cambridge involved and groups have been established at other local schools.

 The students each have personal reasons for becoming involved and are willing to participate in training that will enable them to become advocates for troubled students. They are committed to taking the time to listen to other teens and to direct students to people who are trained to help young people considering suicide. 

Kallysta Johnson explained that she became involved because she lost her grandmother to suicide. She is looking forward to training and will be visiting English classes to speak about the problem of teen suicide. Jimmy Allen was inspired to extend the Suicide Prevention Coalition group to Mid East. He recruited 5 other students. He got involved because he knew several people who committed suicide and believes getting students involved and building awareness about the problem is an important first step to reduce the number of suicides in Guernsey County. 

Rebekah Calkins is one of the original 3 students who joined Suicide Prevention Coalition.  She wants to work to reduce some of the causes of suicide such as depression, bullying, and drug use. Aaron Ruby, also one of the original 3 members, is involved in pairing younger classmates with seniors. He joined because he believes that some of the causes of suicide such as bullying and depression are preventable especially if they are identified early.

 

The club meets 7:30 am every Tuesday at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary can call Membership Chairs Marty Patchen, 740-685-3828, or Evelyn Spring, 740-439-4343.